Judge Gives Man 30 Years For Store Robbery, Rape Try

July 26, 1985|By Leslie Kemp of The Sentinel Staff

SANFORD — A Eustis man who robbed a Sanford area convenience store and tried to rape a clerk during a November crime spree in Seminole and Lake counties was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison and a lifetime of probation.

Circuit Judge Robert B. McGregor cited several reasons for imposing a stiffer sentence for Charles Hayes Jr. than a 5 1/2- to 7-year prison term recommended by state sentencing guidelines. Hayes, 19, pleaded guilty last month to attempted sexual battery and armed robbery.

McGregor said the guidelines didn't consider Hayes' numerous other crimes committed during the same time period; that the clerk suffered emotionally from the attack; that Hayes preyed upon a lone, unprotected clerk; and that Hayes was using drugs during the crime.

McGregor ordered a 30-year term -- the maximum by law -- for the attempted rape charge. He imposed a life term for the armed robbery charge, but ordered that it be changed to probation after three years. He told Hayes he wanted him ''under supervision for the rest of your life either in prison or on probation.''

Hayes was 18 years old on Nov. 4, 1984, when he robbed the One-Stop, located on State Road 46 near Interstate 4 west of Sanford. A clerk said Hayes entered the store about 4:30 a.m., pulled out a dark-colored revolver and demanded money, court records show.

Hayes took money from the cash register and from the clerk's shirt pocket. He then forced the woman to the floor and tried to rape her, but fled when he heard someone outside the store, reports said.

Hayes was arrested the next day in Lake County in connection with a different armed robbery. The clerk identified him from a photographic lineup and Hayes confessed to the Seminole County crime, records show.

Earlier this year, Hayes was sentenced in Lake County to 7 years in prison for five counts of armed robbery and two counts of burglary that occurred between Nov. 3 and Nov. 5, 1984, said Assistant State Attorney Steve Plotnick.